Report: Release surprised Otis Smith

Back from my vacation in Portland and getting caught up on some online reading. A roundup of some links of interest:

** Assistant secondary coach Otis Smith was surprised when the Eagles let him go, according to Mike Reiss of The Boston Globe. Per the report, Smith was released on June 12. To our knowledge, the Daily News' Les Bowen, with help from the guys at Iggles Blog, was the first to report the news on June 17. Smith, who played in New England, tells Reiss he plans to coach with another team, although that could be difficult for 2009, given the timing. Bizarre story. We'll just have to see if any more details emerge.

** The Redskins are implementing a new tailgating policy. When first announced, it seemed to create a bit of a stir among fans, but the 'Skins apparently sent out a release announcing they expected to have more tailgaters than ever. I admittedly am not an expert on the issue, so we'll let the folks in D.C. sort things out and then offer an update. I know a lot of Eagles fans head down to FedEx Field annually for that game, although I've never been there. From what I hear from friends and media members, it's a bit of a nightmare to get to the field.

** Some ex-Eagles are feeling confident. Let's start with Dhani Jones in Cincinnati. The Bengals' linebacker is garnering praise from Cincy defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, and thinks the team can have a top-10 defense in 2009.

** Meanwhile, Jevon Kearse is anticipating a big season. "I wasn't injured, but then again, I wasn't feeling like myself," Kearse told The Tennessean about his performance last season. "This year, I feel like I'm back to my old self again."

** And finally, this is from last week, but since we wrote about Artie Lange right after the Joe Buck show, we figured we should at least post the follow-up. It should come as no surprise that HBO will not have Lange on the show anymore, or on any other HBO Sports program at all for that matter.

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